Move Over Elf on the Shelf–The Reindeer is in the Room

Is Christmas craziness taking over your classroom? As a veteran teacher, I’ve tried every behavior management trick and technique to calm holiday chaos that predictably arrives every year around December 1 and have found limited success. These three weeks should be full of fun and learning, but for years they left me exasperated and exhausted. I decided to take back control with Reindeer in the Room, the teacher’s version of Elf on the Shelf. Just like the Elf on a Shelf, the Reindeer in the Room features a special helper (a reindeer) who is sent to watch over the classroom and reports nightly to Santa.   It’s made a tremendous difference in my classroom and I’m excited to share this idea with other teachers. Follow these easy steps to introduce Reindeer in the Room to your class:
1.Purchase a small reindeer. I found my reindeer at the Hallmark store but I’ve seen them everywhere including the Target Dollar Section.

2. Activate background knowledge and build excitement.  I call the students to the carpet and I read Elf on a Shelf to introduce Reindeer in the Room. The majority of students have an elf at home and it is a perfect connection to the Reindeer in the Room. I explain that Santa sends elves to watch children at home, but Santa gives teachers an extra special helper, a reindeer. He comes down from the North Pole and gives Santa a daily behavior report. This report provides valuable information to Santa because education is very important to him. Santa expects that all children listen, participate, and give their best effort.

3. Introduce Reindeer in the Room. Show students the reindeer and read the accompanying poem. Explain that the reindeer works just like the elf, watching the class carefully and then reporting to Santa each night.
Each day the reindeer will give a special antler reward to one or two well-behaved students. The reindeer will also leave a hoof on the desks of misbehaved students as a symbol to “stomp out” poor behavior immediately.

4. Record reindeer promises. Discuss behavior goals with the class and record on board. Students write 3 individual behavior goals and record them on the Reindeer Promise sheet. Explain that the reindeer reads these goals and watches students’ progress towards them.
5. Create a  Reindeer in the Room on a bulletin board. Prominently display promises on a Reindeer in the Room bulletin board.
6 .Move the reindeer nightly and award antlers and hand out hooves. In order to determine who receives the antler and hoof each day, I take quick notes on a Post-It throughout the day. I specifically look for students that I see going above and beyond (helping others, picking up trash on playground, etc.). I select one student to get an antler award; I place the antler headband, printable antler certificate and Santa chocolate on student’s desk before I leave work for the night. I give a hoof to any student who lost a star (as part of my classroom behavior plan) or who has a messy desk. I place the hoof printable and coal on the student’s desk.

Antlers and hooves can easily be used with existing behavior systems. For example, antlers can be given to students who get to blue (excellent behavior) and hooves can be given for students who go to yellow or red on stoplight behavior system. There are days when no one gets a hoof. I track antlers and hooves in my grade book to ensure that everyone (or most) will get an antler award.

7. Move the reindeer nightly. Each night before I leave school, I move the reindeer to a new location. I try to get creative and also make sure that the reindeer has a good view of the classroom to carefully watch behavior.

Students are so excited to discover the reindeer’s new location and see who earned antlers and who got hoofed. I briefly discuss this with students before we go over the schedule and take attendance in the morning. It sets the tone for the day and reminds them about their behavior goals.

8. Have fun! Download Reindeer in the Room to calm the Christmas chaos in your classroom.  I’d love to see pictures of your Reindeer in the Room in action.

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HOO-RAY for Administrative Professionals’ Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As teachers, administrative professionals are our lifeline.  They schedule field trips, order supplies, take care of our sick and injured students (and us), and basically keep the school afloat. Show OWL of your appreciation with these easy, adorable owl cards.

Administrative Professionals' Day 2

Administrative Professionals' Day 3

Administrative Professionals' Day supplies Administrative Professionals' MaterialsAdministrative Professionals' Day Step 3

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Administrative Professionals' Day Sayings

You can also glue all of the owls on a large piece of poster board to create one large card. My students created this one for our favorite administrative professional who just accepted a new position.

Administrative Professionals' Day Card

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Liebster Award for Blogging

 We’d love to thank Alicia over at The Elementary Professor for giving us a Liebster Award!

The Liebster Award is given to bloggers by bloggers and you can find out more about it here.

To start with, Alicia has a few questions for me to answer.

1- What is your favorite subject to teach and why?

Reading is my favorite subject to teach because I love to see the excitement and joy of beginning readers as they learn to read. I love when they learn new facts and engage with characters in a favorite series.

2-  When you were a kid, did you already know you were going to be a teacher?

I come from a long line of educators and I always knew that I would be a teacher. I often played school with my younger brother and made him be the obedient student.  I would also line up my dolls and stuffed animals and make them be additional students.

3-  If you could have a shopping spree at any one store, what would it be?

For my classroom, I would love a shopping spree at Really Good Stuff and Lakeshore because I love all of their learning products and games. Personally, I would love a Nordstrom shopping spree for clothes and shoes!

4- What do you do to make yourself relax on weekends and breaks?

Relaxation is very important; I enjoy working out and spending time with family and friends.

5-  If you have a family and teach full time, I’d love a tip about how to balance it all. 

A home/work balance is critical but can be very challenging to attain. I get up early each morning before my family wakes up to exercise and finish work. This early morning quiet time is so productive!

6-  What is your favorite thing to do at home?

My favorite thing to do at home is to entertain; I enjoy having family and friends over for barbeques, pool parties and game nights.

7-  What is your must have food or drink when you’re in for a long session of planning/grading, etc….

Starbucks’ iced coffee gets me through any strenuous planning or grading session.

8- In your classroom, music or silence?

There’s a time for both music and silence in the classroom. Each day, students unpack and pack-up to “Beautiful Day” by U2; they have to be completely ready by the time the song is over. I also play music during writing time, but the rest of the day is usually music-free. My classroom is rarely silent as we do a great deal of group-work and cooperative learning projects.

9-What’s one of the scariest things you’ve ever done?

I’m incredibly afraid of heights and hate the sensation of falling.  So, going on the Tower of Terror in Disneyland’s California Adventure was something very scary for me!

10- What is one of those teaching moments that you still laugh about and will forever retell?

It was really funny when Jennifer came to my classroom dressed up as Hazel the Owl to read the students.  Many of the students thought she really was Hazel and were asking her cute questions like, “Where is roost?”, “How long did it take you to fly here.”

11- If you could meet 1 character from any children’s book in real life, who would it be and why?  What would you with them?

It would be great to meet Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus series because I love how she integrates science throughout her curriculum and engages all learners. You can tell she is an enthusiastic teacher as her clothing all goes with her units of study. I would definitely go on a science adventure with her!

That was a little about me (Jessica) and as requested here are 11 random facts (about Astute Hoot):
1 – Jennifer and I were thrown together in a co-teaching situation without even knowing each other in 2009.  We instantly hit it off and became great friends and business partners!
2 – Jennifer and Tina (sisters and business partners) have wanted to start a company creating educational toys and games since they were very young.
3 -Jennifer, Tina, and I have owl sightings ALL the time!
4 – Tina lives in Madison, WI so much of our collaborative work is completed virtually.
5 – Jennifer’s sons Alec and Jake are not only main product testers (in addition to our students), but also our adorable models for many of our blog photos.
6 – We are excited to be attending the TPT conference in Las Vegas in July 2014!
7 – An Astute Hoot retreat in a tropical location is on our bucket list.
8 – We once pulled an all-nighter revamping our TPT store, products, and website.
9 – Some of our math and reading characters have been inspired by and named after people we know.
10 – We are all animal lovers.
11 – We strongly believe that everything in the universe happens for a reason and that nothing is a mere coincidence.
And now I am nominating a few more great blogs for this same award!

 

Alright!  For those I nominated, here are the official rules of the Liebster Award, should you choose to accept it. 😉

Here are my questions for you!

1- What is your favorite subject to teach and why?
2-  When you were a kid, did you already know you were going to be a teacher?
3-  If you could have a shopping spree at any one store, what would it be?
4- What is your dream vacation?
5-  If you have a family and teach full time, I’d love a tip about how to balance it all.
6-  What is your favorite thing to do at home?
7-  What is your must have food or drink when you’re in for a long session of planning/grading, etc….
8-  What is your favorite holiday tradition?
9- How do you differentiate for a variety of student needs?
10- What is one of those teaching moments that you still laugh about and will forever retell?
11-  If you could meet 1 character from any children’s book in real life, who would it be and why?

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